Braunton Burrows - before and after planting

The history of Braunton Burrows provides an illustration of the changes that have occurred on sand dunes in the UK as a whole. Prior to 1953 they were generally much more mobile than today. A combination of grazing by domestic stock and rabbits helped to create sometimes large areas of blowing sand. At Braunton this was exacerbated by their use in the 1940s for tank landing trials. After 1953 the rabbit population all but died out due to the introduction of myomatosis. By this time a major planting programme had been initiated. This combined with the absence of grazing stock and the demise of the rabbit, led to rapid stabilisation (see pictures below).

Caption: Braunton Burrows in 1950 on the left and in the late 1970s on the right after extensive marram planting had taken place in the late 1950s. Although the views are not directly comparable the river in the background helps to show the extent to which stabilisation of the dune surface had taken place.